Morgan Stanley is heaping some pretty heavy praise on Elon Musk. Chief Executive Officer James Gorman calls Tesla at the Reuters Next Forum in New York on December 1. The founder of Get Free Report, which recently acquired Twitter for $44 billion, called Get Free Report “an extraordinary executive”.
Morgan Stanley said, who wouldn’t want to do business with Elon Musk? Bloomberg was the first to report on Elon Musk’s leadership of Tesla and SpaceX.
Morgan Stanley, who has led the investment firm since 2012, encouraged investors not to give up on Twitter after Elon Musk’s mass firing and continued online spat that led to an exodus of both high-profile users and advertisers.
I wouldn’t bet against Elon Musk, Morgan Stanley said, referring to a previous visit to the Tesla factory and comparing Elon Musk to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Who’s betting for and against Elon Musk. Even before Gorman’s comments, the phrase “betting against Elon Musk” has become a buzzword among critics of the crackdown and against Musk’s profit-driven and hardline leadership style.
The unorthodox leadership that propelled Tesla and SpaceX to their success and helped Elon Musk skyrocket his wealth will work for a social media platform that relies on content from advertisers as well as users.
“I hear a lot of people still say ‘I wouldn’t bet against Elon Musk,'” Gergil Oroz, a software engineer at JP Morgan, Uber – Get Free Report, Microsoft (MSFT) – Get Free Report & Text Skype, Twitter. “I don’t hear a lot of people say ‘I wouldn’t bet against [Microsoft CEO] Satya Nadella.’ Also explain the difference between the two in leadership style and dealing with people – employees, customers.”
Oroz’s reference to the Microsoft CEO refers to Nadella’s leader’s approach of ‘humility’ and listening to employee input. A leadership that some also see as highly unorthodox and Gorman has repeatedly pushed for an early return to office amid the pandemic, saying that working from home is “Jobland”.
Elon Musk has been known to rise above expectations in the face of negativity, with some speculating that growing resentment over the treatment of Musk’s employees and move to the political right could be his downfall.
Tesla stock is down more than 15% since Elon Musk tweeted he began criticizing his attitude toward employees, as well as his decision to reinstate banned users like former President Donald Trump.
According to Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley led the syndicate that provided $13 billion to Elon Musk to complete the Twitter purchase. These are the banks that jumped at the chance to help the customer and are now facing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on unsold loans on their balance sheets.
Gorman is likely to stand behind Elon Musk no matter what happens, and says Twitter is a great company. We don’t go after that kind of business and that kind of opportunity unless it’s real and very real, he told the conference.